It rather looks like Scrooge could ruin Britain’s Christmas

IT rather looks like Scrooge could ruin Britain’s Christmas as disputes between major supermarket groups and unions could lead to strikes and empty shelves.

The news is full of the fact that there are insufficient HGV drivers in Britain at the moment due supposedly to a combination of the pandemic and Brexit.

This of course means that lorry drivers are in a position to make themselves heard and this is what is happening with Tesco drivers and warehouse staff.

According to their union, Unite, workers at four Tesco distribution centres have rejected a below inflation pay offer and if their members vote for strike action, Tesco’s shelves will quickly become empty this winter, potentially affecting the Christmas period,

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Tesco’s staff have kept working throughout the pandemic and that alone surely means they deserve a decent pay rise. Instead, they are being offered what is, in effect, a pay cut.

“Tesco’s shareholders will be well rewarded out of Tesco’s £3 billion pound profits. Unite is preparing for industrial action now to make sure the workers get their share as well.”

The union argues that Tesco’s ‘full and final pay offer’ of a 2.5 per cent pay increase (which workers have rejected) is actually a pay cut as currently inflation is running at 4.8 per cent in the UK.

This ballot follows the threat of a strike at delivery group Yodel, after 250 of its couriers voted for industrial action over pay and conditions, which could affect deliveries for Marks & Spencer, Aldi and Very from Yodel’s three depots in England and Scotland whilst industrial action being considered by other groups as well.

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